Phal JSC with pill shaped bugs??
 

Hi everyone. I've got what I think might be a problem with my Phal Joy Spring Canary 'Yaphon'. Wondering if anyone can shed some light on what this might be. Never seen this before. They look like very little white and greyish/ tan balls. Some are bunched together as shown and they appear to be mostly on the roots but there are more singly on the moss. I only noticed them because the pot got watered today after going almost completely dry and they really stood out. I got as close as I could it the hopes that one of the experts here will know what they are and what to do about them!

I do know that their not mealies!

Thanks for any help/ideas that anyone has in advance!

Judi

They look like tiny mushrooms to me.
Do they move?

are you sure its not a fungus or mold?

Val & Bob,
I looked at them with a 10X loupe when I first saw them and they don't move and are round in shape with no type of stem what so ever. I picked some off and rubbed them between my fingers and they feel kind of hard and retain their shape so I don't think it's a mold or fungus problem.
But thanks for the ideas and keep them coming!
Anyone else with any ideas??

Judi

What about perlite? It's used quite frequently in combination with sphagnum.

weird. i would just repot in some fresh spagh and then see, it looks a little old anywats. i have seen things like this before in other types of plants, i repotted and then it went away...

ps. i dont think the cross i made with the JSC pollen you sent me took :( its still a possibility that its okay, but i doubt it :(((

The perlite I've seen isn't necessarily round though. Of course, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Did they just appear or did they come the orchid when you got it?

I'm assuming this is a new development.

its not perlite. i can tell you that. much too small and not the right texture or color or anything

That's what I thought as well, but not familiar enough with various forms of it.

@ Bob, the moss is fresh just looks old as it's in a clear pot and with the fert and light it gets algae fast. I do plan on repotting but I'd like to find out what it is just in case it shows up elsewhere.

@ Paul, I can't be 100% sure if this is a new development or not. Thats not to say it wasn't there before, it may have been, but I just noticed it today.
And the plant is in total moss so can't be pumice.

The plant was fairly new in the last couple of months and an import from Taiwan, So I'm fearful of what it might be. I did a check of the others that came in the same order and none of the others have this. Thankfully they have been in isolation from the rest of my collection!

Thanks for the additional ideas guys!

Judi

I was thinking maybe fertilizer pellets, but looking at your pic, I'm not sure of that.

Repotting a Cym today, I found a cluster of tiny round things that I'm guessing were eggs from something - yikes! I don 't know that any insects or bugs would have eggs that are hard :dunno:

If they were bugs I would think you would be able to squish them. When I first looked at the pic the first thing that came to my mind was that it looks like tiny pieces of styrofoam that crumbled off a bigger piece. Was that plant packaged in styrofoam when you bought it?

I would guess porous clay pellets that carry ferttilizer. I've seen it in bonsai made over in asia. Timed release stuff. styrofoam would be squishy as would eggs of any kind and perlite/sponge rock the same. Just an opinion.

maybe just replace the top layer of moss then, and get the noid-ugly-round-things off, and keep an eye on it.

if none of the above, then maybe fungus gnat pupa


Fungus Gnats

This may be a bit naive, but are you sure this isn't really small styrofoam pieces? When you say they held their shape when you mashed them, did you mean they resisted smashing or just rebounded right back. If the latter, I'd bet styrofoam. Just a guess though

Thanks guys for all the input.

I don't think these things are anything mentioned yet, IE: fertilizer pellets, clay pellets, or styrofoam.
Fungus gnat pupa, maybe but I don't think so, the moss is not kept really moist/wet and I haven't seen any indication of gnats in general.
Maybe the pic is misleading as I took the pic 8 inches away from the plant and then cropped the pic like crazy to try to show what I was seeing. Here's a pic of the plant unpotted. The tiny white dots are about the size of a grain of salt if not smaller. There a bunch right above the top root in the pic

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ium/bugs_2.JPG


Oh! And I picked some off and tried squashing them on the counter and they flatten out as compared to rolling around between my fingers which did nothing.

Judi

Ahhh! Styrfoam balls. They use them a lot in making light weight soils.

I think it's styrofoam too.

Do we have three? Who will make it three. Do I hear styrofoam? Going once....twice....going three times....sold...uh....where was I? Oh yeah. I agree Wynn Dee

LOL, ok guys, I looked at them under a 10X loupe, they are not styrofoam balls, trust me. No styrofoam in the packing or the pot, none, nada!

Judi

Dang!!! I woulda swore...... oh well. Once in a blue moon........